Breaking the Echo Curse at Home
25 years beyond my first foray into audio engineering, I thought I’d seen every trick to tame a bad room. I’ve hung heavy quilts in closets, stacked couch cushions as makeshift walls, and even recorded voiceovers in my car to escape reverb. So when I heard about the Snap Studio XL, a portable vocal booth invented by a Grammy-nominated producer, I was intrigued. Could this pop-up booth really deliver studio-quality acoustics in a living room?
To find out, I got my hands on a Snap Studio XL and struck up an email conversation with its creator, Zach. Zach isn’t your average DIY tinkerer – he’s an award-winning drummer and producer. Oh, and yes, he earned a Grammy nomination along the way. In our correspondence, Zach came across as both passionate and humble, eager to solve the same recording problems I’ve wrestled with my whole career. What follows is a narrative of my experience with the Snap Studio XL, woven with snippets of those email exchanges and a healthy dose of acoustic data. Let’s dive in!
A Grammy-Nominated Inventor with a DIY Soul
Curious about the origins of Snap Studio, I asked Zach how it all began.
Zach (via email): “the idea came to me to revisit the portable booth idea. I went to the shed, got out all the old parts, and started to think “what stopped me from turning this into a product last time”? And that kicked off a multi-year process of learning how to prototype physical products, discover suppliers, import goods, engineer designs, and basically take a product from concept all the way to ready for market. I spent at least a year and a half working on the Snap Studio design during this period leading up to its release. Note that I didn’t conduct any market research, take polls to see if people wanted something like this, or determine any viability from potential customers. I was just so interested in working out all the little details that it became a personal obsession to try and get it “perfect” and ready for some type of market release..”
That weekend project in a garage was the seed of what would become Snap Studio. Zach had been recording music at home and, like so many of us, was frustrated by poor audio quality in untreated rooms . Rather than shell out for expensive studio time, he fabricated a DIY booth using hardware-store PVC, moving blankets, and sheer determination. I chuckled reading that email – it took me back to my own early days, building a vocal fort out of furniture and blankets. The difference is, Zach actually turned his prototype into a product used worldwide.
By 2020, Zach formally launched Snap Studio, and the first-gen booth quickly became a hit among both amateurs recording in bedrooms and seasoned pros needing a travel booth .
Zach (via email): From the time the Covid lockdowns happened, I spent the next 2 or so months finishing the booth and one day saying, “This it it”. I enlisted the help of my cousin, and I made the first 24 units and boxed them up. I learned how to create a listing on Amazon, printed the shipping labels and sent them in. You send in the product before it sells, so you are basically crossing your fingers hoping that somebody will buy it. Late June 2020 is when I sent them in, and days went by with nothing.
And then, on July 1, 2020, boom somebody bought the very first one. I was in awe. Just like the with the GRAMMY nomination, this was a huge turning point. I’ll never forget driving out of Los Angeles after a weekend visit with a group of friends and I got a phone call from another buddy of mine, and he said, “Hey what’s going on I can’t find your product on Amazon”. Mind you this was maybe the second week of July 2020. I thought to myself, “Hmm, that’s strange, the only reason why you wouldn’t find a product on Amazon is if it’s out of stock”. So I pulled over and checked, and what do you know, I was sold out! Just two weeks after making the first sale, they cleaned out my entire inventory!
Fast forward to today, and the Snap Studio XL is the latest, largest iteration – nearly double the footprint of the original, built to accommodate not just solo vocalists but also guitarists, duets, or anyone needing a bit more elbow room. Armed with Zach’s story and high expectations, I was ready to set up my own Snap Studio XL and put it to the test.
Unboxing and Setup: First Impressions
Setting up the Snap Studio XL in my living room felt like a full-circle moment from my youthful DIY hacks to this polished, engineered solution. The booth arrived in a moster box as demonstrated in my youtube video. It was packed beautifully and has a professional appearance the second you open the box. Inside, I found a bundle of tubes, accessories, instructions, and thick acoustic blankets. The frame pieces are reminiscent of PVC pipe. With a bit of coffee and one eye on the instruction sheet, I had the frame up in about 15 minutes. Not bad for 44″ x 44″ of floor space and 6’8″ of internal height – roomy enough for me (at 6’) to stand and of course sit comfortably with a guitar .
As I velcroed the heavy Pro Sound Pad blankets around the frame, I immediately noticed their quality. These aren’t flimsy moving blankets; they are dense, multi-layered acoustic panels. In fact, Zach later mentioned some back story in an email “The sound blankets were already much heavier than moving blankets, but when the factory told me that they could increase the weight even further. I jumped at the chance. I personally care a lot about delivering superior results where it counts. I know that people want good sound absorption and I don’t want to send them basic stuff that they could easily find elsewhere. So our sound blankets are manufactured to the thickest specifications I could possibly make. As far as I know nobody makes a cotton sound-absorbing blanket as heavy or as dense as ours” I could literally feel what he meant as each pad felt substantial, the kind of heft you associate with studio-grade acoustic treatment.
Snap Studio XL also came with thoughtful extras that show its user-focused design. For example, two LED light bars are included, complete with a remote control. I clipped them inside the booth, and suddenly this small space lit up like a cozy vocal cave. No more squinting at lyric sheets in the dark. There’s even a little mount where you can slip in a tablet or phone at eye level. As someone who often reads lyrics or script off an iPad, I really appreciated this touch. It’s one of those minor features you don’t realize you need until you’re mid-session thinking, “Where do I put my device?” In short, setup was straightforward and the booth’s build quality exceeded my expectations. But the real question remained: How would it perform in the acoustic gauntlet?
Acoustic Test: Bathroom vs Living Room vs Snap Studio
It was time for the nerdy part – measuring how much Snap Studio XL actually improves the sound. I conducted a simple RT60 test (reverberation time, i.e. how long a sound takes to decay by 60 dB) in three environments: my tiled bathroom (worst-case scenario), my furnished living room (typical home studio space), and inside the Snap Studio booth. I recorded and analyzed the decay in each location:
- Bathroom (hard surfaces, small size): RT60 ≈ .35 seconds. Honestly not bad although this is an average and the 250Hz range was over .4 seconds. It’s the classic “singing in the shower” sound, great for karaoke, terrible for recording. *(Audio Sample 1: Raw voice reading in bathroom – lots of echo click the paperclip)* 📎
- Living Room (carpeted with furniture): RT60 ≈ 0.32 seconds. The decay dies out faster here, but not a lot more than the bathroom. This is misleading though as the difference in hearing is immeasurable. Judge for yourself. The better decay is of course thanks to the sofa, and rugs absorbing some reflections. This is decent, maybe on par with a typical bedroom studio. But you can still hear a room tone; a mic would catch a slight reverb on vocals. *(Audio Sample 2: Raw voice reading in living room – moderate reflections click the paperclip)* 📎
- Snap Studio XL Booth: RT60 ≈ 0.27 seconds. The decay inside the booth was almost immediate. A little over Two-tenths of a second and the sound was gone – effectively dead silence right after the initial slap. Notably the frequencies were all better controlled with 250 Hz coming in at .23 vs the .4 in the bathroom. Lower frequencies are harder to attenuate. The recording from inside the Snap Studio sounded “dry” and close, with virtually no echo. *(Audio Sample 3: Raw voice reading in Snap Studio XL – clean and dry click the paperclip)* 📎
To say I was impressed is an understatement. The data linked directly to real-world results and when I listened back to voice clips from each space, the differences were night and day. In the bathroom sample, my voice sounded distant and cavernous; in the living room it was better but still had that hollow ring. Inside the Snap Studio, my voice was crisp and in-your-face, as if I had recorded in a professional vocal booth. There was minimal coloration to the sound – just an absence of room tone. As an audiophile and sometimes engineer, that’s exactly what I want: a neutral canvas to later add any reverb or effects as needed, rather than fighting to remove an ugly room sound.
It’s important to note that the Snap Studio isn’t a magic box that soundproofs your room, loud outside noises will still leak in easily. The company is upfront about this: it’s not designed to block all external sound, but to significantly reduce room echo and reflections for clean recordings . In my tests, it absolutely succeeds in that mission. The improvement in clarity and professional sheen on recordings is undeniable. I’d even say that for voiceovers or singing, the Snap Studio XL can transform a mediocre-sounding space into something broadcast-worthy.
Check the soundcloud below for links to guitar testing and the VO quickly captured in the Snap Studio XL.
Real-World Recording Experience
Data and anecdotes aside, what is it like to actually use the Snap Studio XL day-to-day? In a word: game-changing. I’ve now tracked a voiceover, and even an acoustic guitar inside the booth. The difference in the raw tracks is immediately noticeable, no more battling background echo or boxy room tone in EQ. Editing becomes easier when each take is consistently dry.
There’s also a psychological benefit. Stepping into the booth, zipping the heavy curtain behind me, I felt a bit like I was entering a professional studio booth – a tiny creative zone sealed off from the chaos of the house. Distractions went down, focus went up.
Are there any downsides? Well it doesn’t block out sounds (granted it doesn’t claim to). Also, after a while inside, the air can get a bit stuffy thats the trade-off of enclosing yourself in heavy blankets I guess. I took breaks to let fresh air in, kicking the doors open and holding it with a clamp. Overall, these weren’t deal-breakers for me, just the reality of using a portable booth without ventalation.
On the flip side, I found myself discovering little pluses the more I used it. For example, the detachable acoustic blankets can double as wall treatment when I’m not using the full booth. I actually hung one behind my computer desk and noticed an improvement in that room’s acoustics (bonus!) though this was temporary for a test but if you setup a c-stand you can easily section off areas.
The versatility is great; it’s like getting a vocal booth and a mini acoustic treatment kit in one. And knowing the booth was developed by someone who truly cares about sound gave me extra peace of mind. There’s a certain credibility in a product when the inventor is also a user. In fact, Snap Studio’s been recognized by the industry as Rolling Stone magazine named it the best sound booth among portable options . That external praise matches my internal verdict.
Conclusion: Ounce of prevention
The Snap Studio XL turned out to be more than just a piece of gear; it’s a story of DIY ingenuity meeting professional excellence. It’s the result of a guy in a garage who refused to accept “good enough” and instead aimed for studio-quality sound on a home studio budget . It’s also a reminder that the best creator tools often come from creators themselves, who know our struggles intimately and solve them with heart and science in equal measure. I said it in my video and it remains true today, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Nowhere is this more true than in audio, especially spoken word.
For me, the quantitative results that showed drastically lowered RT60 reverb times prove that this portable booth works as advertised (if not better). The qualitative experience, from Zach’s friendly support to the actual feel of recording in the booth, makes it something I’ll keep using for years to come. My only regret is not having a Snap Studio 20 years ago when I was actually playing and recording on the regular! While measurements are interesting the best comparison is to take a listen to the audio, especially spoken word. Just don’t mind my terrible mic technique, the samples are quickly taken between a variety of spaces and meant to show an indication of the change in sound. If you spend time shutting down HVAC and ensuring quiter spaces, using pop filters, etc you can achieve remarkable results.
If you’re a vocalist, voice over artist, podcaster, or producer tired of fighting bad room acoustics, the Snap Studio XL is absolutely worth checking out. It delivers acoustic control in a package anyone can assemble and use. Don’t just take my word for it, give it a shot, listen to the audio samples above, and hear the difference for yourself. Your future self (and your listeners) will thank you.
Happy recording
Tyler Kacsor